Former CIA officer jailed for 40 years over espionage, child pornography

A federal judge has sentenced former CIA officer, Joshua Adam Schulte to 40 years in jail for the biggest data breach in the agency's history, espionage and child pornography, the Department of Justice announced in a press release.

He was sentenced to 40 years in prison by US District judge Jesse Furman for crimes of espionage, computer hacking, contempt of court, making false statements to the FBI, and child pornography," the release said on Thursday, reported Sputnik.

Schulte (above) was convicted at trials that concluded on March 9, 2020, and Sept 13, 2022, the Justice Department said.

"Schulte's theft is the largest data breach in the history of the CIA, and his transmission of that stolen information to Wikileaks is one of the largest unauthorised disclosures of classified information in the history of the United States." the release said.

According to court documents, from 2012 to 2016, Schulte was employed as a software developer at the Centre for Cyber Intelligence (CCI).

In 2016, Schulte used his access to steal copies of the entire CCI tool development archives and then transmit them to WikiLeaks.

The effect was described at trial by the former CIA deputy director of Digital Innovation as a "digital Pearl Harbour" that caused exceptionally grave harm to the national security of the United States, the release said.

- Bernama-Sputnik